Melanie Peck

Grade 10 Academic History Time: 75 minutes

C1- describe some key social, economic, and political events, trends,and developments between 1929-1945, and assess their impact ondifferent groups in Canada

C2- analyze some key interactions within and between communities in

Canada, and between Canada and the international community, from1929-1945, with a focus on key issues that affected these interactionsand changes that resulted from them

Specific Expectations:

C1.4- describe the main causes of some key political developments

and/or government policies in Canada during this period

C2.1- analyze some significant ways in which Canadians cooperated

and/or came into conflict with each other during this period

Learning Goals: 1. Students will be able to describe the political and social events that led to the internment of Japanese-Canadians during WWII 2. Students will be able to describe what life in the internment camps were like for Japanese-Canadians

**Learning Goals will be displayed on the whiteboard/chalkboard at the

front of the room doe students to see

Materials: Projector/Laptop Chart paper Markers

Introduction: Life Before The Attack on Pearl Harbor (5

Minutes)

Life Before Pearl Harbor:

Beginning in the late 1800s young Japanese men began immigrating to Canada to seek new opportunities and a better Melanie Peck

life (Mostly in B.C.- show image of Map of Canada)

Many worked on fishing boats and farms while others worked in the mines, sawmills, and pulp mills They did NOT receive a warm welcome Japanese Canadians were discriminated against within Canada - Mobs went through Japanese sections of cities to protest their presence - People lobbied the gov. to stop Asian immigration - People of Asian ethnicity were denied the right to vote, excluded from certain professions (ex. civil service and teaching), received a lower wage then their white counter parts Since they were excluded from Canadian society they created their own community- social, economic, and religious institutions - Ex. Christina churches & Buddhist temples, Japanese language schools, community halls, hospital, etc.

Attack on Pearl Harbor: Picture Slide Show (5 Minutes)

**Thumbs up Thumbs Down- Thumbs Up if you can explain what theattack on Pearl Harbor was, and Thumbs down if you are unsure

On December 7, 1941 the American naval base Pearl Harbor, was

attacked by the Japanese Within days of the attack the Canadian Pacific Railways fired all Japanese workers as did many other industries, Japanese fishermen in B.C. were not permitted to leave port, and 1200 fishing boats were seized by the Canadian navy On February 25, 1942 (12 weeks after the attack on Pearl Harbor) Canada implemented the War Measures Act to remove all Japanese Canadians residing within 160km of the Pacific Coast- gave the reason of national security

Activity #1: Anti-Japanese Propaganda (10 Minutes per Picture)

Show a picture of an anti-Japanese poster to the class Give students time to examine it Ask them what they think it means? Who is the audience? How does it portray Japanese-Canadians? Melanie Peck

Points to Hit On:

Audience was white Canadian society 1st Image- dehumanizes Japanese-Canadians because they are in the image of a worm, portrays them as enemy spies (mouth open eyes shut comment), over exaggerated features (racist imagery) 2nd Image- bring feeling of men having to protect their women from an enemy, harsh features (scary looking compared to the Canadian soldiers at the bottom of the poster), purpose is to promote war bonds to help defeat Japan

Middle: Japanese Internment (1 Minutes)

20 881 men, women, and children of Japanese ancestry were

removed from their homes and moved to internment camps Melanie Peck

Activity #2: First Hand Accounts (20 Group Work, 3 Minute

Presentations) Split class into groups of 4-5 students (6 groups) Number off Students Each group will receive a primary source (quote or photo) that describes/displays what life was like in internment camps The groups will then analyze the primary documents and pull out 3 important pieces of information Each group will then share the information they gathered and together the class will make a list of what life was like in the Japanese internment camps

Points to Hit On:

Families were separated- men were separated from women and children Housing conditions- no insulation, overcrowded, no electricity, no running water, etc. Isolation- men were sent to work camps- not given fair wages, people didnt want them in their towns and women sent to ghost towns in the interior Movements were restricted- not allowed to leave Mail was censored

Conclusion: (6 Minutes) Have students complete a one sentence summary about Japanese internment- there answer should answer the who, what, where, when, and why Students will hand these in at the end of class as a formative assessment tool

Reflection:

Exit Card:

One Sentence Summary (Answer the who, what,

Melanie Peck

where, when, how, and why about Japanese

Internment)

Japanese Internment Primary Sources

Group # 1Question to Consider: 1. How were families treated? 2. Did interned Japanese people have the same rights as other Canadians? 3. Describe what the camps were like (ex. food, housing, etc.)

Aside from those days when the haiku club met, manyindistinguishable days now followed. It was not until an afternoon inlate October that it fell to my lot to take part in what for me was anovel experience. The assignment was to cut wood for the kitchenstoves. Five guards led ten of us out through the camp gates. It wasthe first time I had been allowed out of the compound since my arrivalat the end of August. Walking in a troop of men bearing axes and saws,I was reminded of happier days in the road camps at Yellowhead andDescoigne. There too we had not been free to leave, but I had since Melanie Peck

realized how much I had undervalued the semblance of freedom

afforded by the absence of a fence.- Takeo Ujo Nakano

Image of a Kindergarten Class at Lemon Creek Internment

Camp Melanie Peck

Japanese Internment Primary Sources

Group # 2Question to Consider: 1. How were families treated? 2. Did interned Japanese people have the same rights as other Canadians? 3. Describe what the camps were like (ex. food, housing, etc.)

Toshimi [his daughter] had never yet experienced a fatherless

Christmas. How neglected she would surely feel. My immediate desirewas to send her a toy, but I quickly realized that this was impossiblefrom within the camp. I then wanted to write her a long letterexplaining why father could not send her a present. But even withletters we were not at complete liberty. I spent the better part of a daybrooding upon the frustration of my situation. That night, towardmidnight, fierce winter blasts hit the roofs and sides of our dormitorybuildings. Once wakened by the sound, I could not stop thinking of

Yukie and Toshimi [his family].- Takeo Ujo Nakano

Melanie Peck

Housing at the Tashme Internment Camp

Japanese Internment Primary Sources

Group # 3Question to Consider: 1. How were families treated? 2. Did interned Japanese people have the same rights as other Canadians? 3. Describe what the camps were like (ex. food, housing, etc.) Melanie Peck

Iwelcomed 1943with a silentprayer to thefirst sunriseof the year. And Iprayed for thesafety of mybeloved fatherland and of my parents and other kin, fromwhom I had had no communication since Pearl Harbor.-Takeo Ujo Nakano Japanese Internment Primary Sources Group # 4 Melanie Peck

Question to Consider: 1. How were families treated? 2. Did interned Japanese people have the same rights as other Canadians? 3. Describe what the camps were like (ex. food, housing, etc.)

Hundreds of women and children were squeezed into the

livestock building. Each family separated from the next by a flimsy piece of cloth hung from the upper deck of double decker steel bunks. The walls between the rows of steel bunks were only five feet high, their normal use being to tether animals. Yukiharu Misuyabu

Housing at the Tashme Internment Camp

Japanese Internment Primary Sources

Melanie Peck

Group # 5Question to Consider: 1. How were families treated? 2. Did interned Japanese people have the same rights as other Canadians? 3. Describe what the camps were like (ex. food, housing, etc.)

No person of Japanese origin in any work camp, village,

town, municipality, or other area to and in which they have been duly authorized or directed to proceed shall leave such place without the authority of the commission or the officially of the R.C.M. Police. Official Declaration regarding Japanese Canadians Movement

Kindergarten Class at Lemon Creek Internment Camp

Melanie Peck

Japanese Internment Primary Sources

Group # 6Question to Consider: 1. How were families treated? 2. Did interned Japanese people have the same rights as other Canadians? 3. Describe what the camps were like (ex. food, housing, etc.)

The walls of our shack were one layer of thin wooden board coveredwith two=ply paper sandwiching a flimsy layer or tar. There was noceiling below the roof. In the winter, moisture condensed on the insideof the cold walls and turned to ice. Yukiharu MisuyabuMelanie Peck